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Jan 27, 2013

Why Red? (VALENTINES) no.2

Today I am serious!

As my interest and knowledge is Modern Art, I would like to share with you the enormous change of attitude towards colors in general, and towards red in particular,since themodern era,
around the 19th century,(as Valentine’s Day is approaching).

Jacuques Louis David, Napoleon at the St. Bernard Pass,
1801.

This Neo-Classic painting representsthe classical attitude towards colorsince ancient time:Paint used to be a narrative vehiclein the work of art.Red, being an “extrovert” color,was used to highlight figures of prominent status,such as religious figures, political,military and social figures of high-status.In this painting, Napoleon has a red cloak,functioning as ahalo.

Two major processes paved the way for the amazing change 0f attitude towards color: Art was liberated from the “tyranny”of narrative.(Napoleon’simagewasordered from the painterDavid.)Artists no longer depended on patronage, and were not committedto expressa specific agenda. They could freely express their own ideas and feelings, like exploring paint for instance ...

Colors as physical phenomena and later as perceptual phenomena

(i.e. how we see colors, and the mutual effects of their combinations), and as a psychologicalphenomena (i.e. the mental effects of colors) .

Mark Rothko, Orange Red Orange,circa 1962.

Mark Rothko, Mauve and Orange, 1961.

M.Rothko,Untilled (Red, Orange),1968.

Rothko,the American Abstract-Expressionist,represents here the artists who saw in color itself the subject of the
painting.When we meditate before his “floating”colored rectangulars, we askourselves not
what it is all about,but how it isaffecting us, and what mood it expresses.